About NAFA
Since 2019 NAFA has seen 248,545 audience members attend its shows, provided work and artistic opportunities to 4,300 artists and 431 event staff. It has also contributed over $21.4M into the local economy.
Our Story began with the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Townsville was named one of the four Event Cities alongside the Gold Coast, Brisbane, and Cairns. During the Commonwealth Games, the Queensland Government provided funding for each event city to create and run an arts and cultural festival – and thus Festival 2018 was born.
The overwhelming response for Festival 2018 from the community really highlighted the need for an annual arts and cultural festival for the northern region. In 2018, Mayor Jenny Hill and the Townsville City Council committed to the creation and continuation of a Townsville festival. From here, the North Australian Festival of Arts (NAFA) was founded.
In the spirit of Fringe Festivals across the globe – NAFA has an inclusive, organic and open access side that features all forms of art and performance. ‘Open access’ means that unlike most arts festivals, no one is in charge of deciding which shows get to take part. There are no curators, no program directors, no themes or content criteria that artists have to fulfil when registering their show. The festival is formed around the mantra: anyone with a story to tell and a venue to host it. No matter who you are, where you come from or what artform you represent, everyone is welcome at NAFA.